Hi Somtawin, I don't know much about "wet chemistry", so it would be difficult for me to speculate what could be wrong with the bath. You can ask plating guys at www.finishing.com. From the "materials" point of view, I wouldn't expect that the presence of Fe in your plating (if it is present like in an Ni-Fe alloy) is causing the problem. However, if Fe is present as particles (oxides) then it may be a different story all together. As I've mentioned before, I'd make sure there is no contamination/oxidation of the solderable surface and the EDS should be used very carefully, since we are talking about extremely thin layers. You can try to clean the parts and see whether your solderability test will give a better result. Regards, Vladimir Vladimir Igoshev, Ph. D. Senior Materials Researcher Research in Motion 451 Phillip St. Waterloo, ON, N2L 3X2 Voice: (+1) 519-888-7465, ext. 5283 Fax: (+1) 519-886-0863 E-mail: [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Somtawin Pornpottanamas [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 8:21 PM To: TechNet E-Mail Forum.; Vladimir Igoshev Subject: RE: [TN] Hi Vladimir, By visual and SEM, we couldn't see anything on surface, all good and bad part show nothing different. Just EDX analysis that show Fe contain in bad part. So we though may be the Nickel bath had Fe contaminated. For %P , Can we check by EDX? And how high to cause the problem? Thanks & Regards, Somtawin Pornpottanamas Material Engineer -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Vladimir Igoshev Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2004 3:57 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] Hi Somtawin, First thing I'd suspect is oxidation/contamination of the solderable surface. EDS may not catch it if it's just oxidation (the layer would be too thin for the method). lathe fact that you see Fe does not make me very optimistic. How does it show up, as inclusions (embedded into the surface) or "dissolved" in the plating? Second thing would be the content of P. If it's too high, then it might be a problem as well. Regards, Vladimir Vladimir Igoshev, Research in Motion -----Original Message----- From: Somtawin Pornpottanamas [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 11:44 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Now we have some problem in one component. The component was plated Nickel (electroplated) , and base material is phosphor bronze. The problem we found was solderability failed. We try to find out what's the cause. We have to inspect the solderability by dipping test before passed to the line. Some failed some passed. we had done the analysis to compare the good one and bad one. We had check Nickel thickness (XRF, cross section), phosphorus content and grain structure (by SEM & EDX). From the data , it show the different. But we don't know how does it effect to the solderability. Does anyone know what 's the parameter that affect to solderability, how? And what 's about the contaminate in Nickel bath ? From EDX we found Fe element in bad part, does Fe effect to solderability? Thanks & Regards, Somtawin Pornpottanamas --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 -----------------------------------------------------